Ancient Near East

Home of many cradles of civilization

The ancient Near East

Regions and states

Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamia

* Sumer
* Hamazi
* Subartu
* Suhum
* Uruk
* Akkadian Empire
* Armani
* Gutian Dynasty
* Simurrum
* Sumerian Empire
* Assyria
* Babylonia
* Tukri
* Kassites
* Chaldea
* Assyrian Empire
* Babylonian Empire
* Adiabene

Egypt

* Early Dynastic Period
* Old Kingdom
* Middle Kingdom
* New Kingdom
* Ptolemaic Kingdom
* Roman Egypt

Iran

* Elam
* Lullubi
* Medes
* Achaemenid Empire
* Parthian Empire
* Sasanian Empire

Anatolia

* Hattians
* Hurrians
* Hittites
* Carchemish
* Arzawa
* Assuwa
* Luwians
* Kaskians
* Hayasa-Azzi
* Shupria
* Colchis
* Neo-Hittite States
* Lydia
* Phrygians
* Diauehi
* Urartu
* Bithynia
* Pontus
* Commagene

The Levant

* Kish Civilization
* Ebla
* Armi
* Mari
* Nagar
* Amorites
* Qatna
* Mukish
* Amurru
* Yamhad
* Ugarit
* Hurrians
* Urkesh
* Urshu
* Mitanni
* Canaan
* Ancient Israel and Judah
* Ancient Palestine
* Phoenicia
* Alashiya
* Aram
* Neo-Hittite states
* Nabatea
* Iturea
* Seleucid Empire
* Coele-Syria
* Roman Syria

Arabia

* Dilmun
* Magan
* Gerrha
* Awal
* Tylos
* Saba
* Qedar
* Qatabān
* Ḥaḍramawt
* Awsān
* Thamud
* Maʿīn
* Lihyan
* Nabataea
* Himyar
* Hatra
* Tanukh
* Ghassanids
* Salīḥids
* Lakhmid
* Kinda

Archaeological periods

* Chronology
* Copper Age
* Bronze Age
* Bronze Age Collapse
* Iron Age

Languages

* Akkadian
* Amorite
* Arabic
* Old Arabic
* Nabataean Arabic
* Nabataean Script
* Ancient North Arabian
* Dadanitic
* Hismaic
* Safaitic
* Taymanitic
* Thamudic
* Aramaic
* Armazic
* Eastern Aramaic
* Western Aramaic
* Imperial Aramaic
* Old Aramaic
* Aramaic Script
* Avestan
* Avestan Script
* Canaanite
* Ammonite
* Edomite
* Hebrew
* Moabite
* Phoenician
* Phoenician Alphabet
* Proto-Sinaitic Script
* Paleo-Hebrew Script
* Eblaite
* Egyptian
* Egyptian Hieroglyphs
* Elamite
* Linear Elamite
* Elamite Cuneiform
* Eteocypriot
* Cypriot Syllabary
* Gutian
* Hattic
* Hittite
* Hittite Cuneiform
* Hurrian
* Kaskian
* Kassite
* Luwic
* Carian
* Carian Script
* Kalasmaic
* Luwian
* Anatolian Hieroglyphs
* Lycian
* Lycian Script
* Milyan
* Pisidian
* Sidetic
* Lydian
* Lydian Script
* Median
* Mysian
* Palaic
* Parthian
* Inscriptional Parthian
* Manichaean Script
* Old Persian
* Old Persian Cuneiform
* Middle Persian
* Manichaean Script
* Pazend Script
* Philistine
* Phrygian
* Phrygian Script
* Samalian
* South Arabian
* South Arabian Script
* Sumerian
* Cuneiform Script
* Sutean
* Taymanitic
* Ugaritic
* Ugaritic Script
* Urartian

Literature

* Akkadian
* Egyptian
* Hittite
* Persian
* Sumerian
* Syriac
* Ugaritic

Religion and mythology

Religion and mythology

* Mesopotamian
* Babylonian
* Sumerian
* Egyptian
* Semitic
* Arabian
* Nabataean
* Canaanite
* Hebrew
* Punic
* Armenian
* Hurrian
* Anatolian
* Hittite
* Luwian
* Lydian
* Iranian
* Persian
* Scythian
* Ossetian
* Bronze Age Aegean
* Minoan
* Mycenaean

Cosmology

* Ancient near eastern cosmology
* Flat Earth
* Firmament
* Cosmic ocean
* Abzu
* Ancient Mesopotamian underworld
* Mashu

Other topics

* Animals
* Archaeology
* Genetic History
* Cradle of Civilization
* Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples
* Ancient Near East Conflicts
* Egypt
* Egyptology
* Mathematics
* Technology
* Medicine
* Assyria
* Assyriology
* Law
* Babylonia
* Astronomy
* Law
* Mathematics
* Hittites
* Hittitology
* Law
* Cuneiform Law
* Early Alphabet
* History of the Ancient Levant
* History of the Middle East
* Timeline
* List of Cities

* v
* t
* e

The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia,[1][a] Egypt, western Iran (or Persia),[b] Anatolia and the Armenian highlands,[2][c] the Levant,[d] and the Arabian Peninsula.[e] As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Near Eastern archaeology are one of the most prominent with regard to research in the realm of ancient history. Historically, the Near East denoted an area roughly encompassing the centre of West Asia, having been focused on the lands between Greece and Egypt in the west and Iran in the east. It therefore largely corresponds with the modern-day geopolitical concept of the Middle East.

The history of the ancient Near East begins with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, though the date that it ends is a subject of debate among scholars; the term covers the region's developments in the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and is variously considered to end with either the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, the establishment of the Macedonian Empire in the 4th century BC, or the beginning of the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century AD.

It was within the ancient Near East that humans first practiced intensive year-round agriculture, which led to the rise of the earliest dense urban settlements and the development of many now-familiar institutions of civilization, such as social stratification, centralized government and empires, and organized religion (see: ancient Near Eastern religions) and organized warfare. It also saw the creation of the first writing system, the first alphabet (i.e., abjad), the first currency, and the first legal codes, all of which were monumental advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel.

During this period, the region's previously stateless societies largely transitioned to building states, many of which gradually came to annex the territories of their neighbouring civilizations. This process continued until the entire ancient Near East was enveloped by militaristic empires that had emerged from their own lands to conquer and absorb a variety of cultures under the rule of a top-level government.

## The concept of the Near East

[edit]

Main article: Near East

Overview map of the ancient Near East

The phrase "ancient Near East" denotes the 19th-century distinction between the Near and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire. The distinction began during the Crimean War. The last major exclusive partition of the east between these two terms was current in diplomacy in the late 19th century, with the Hamidian massacres of the Armenians and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire in 1894–1896 and the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as "the Near East" and "the Far East". Shortly after, they were to share the stage with ''Middle East'', a term that came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times.

As Near East had meant the lands of the Ottoman Empire at roughly its maximum extent, on the fall of that empire, the use of Near East in diplomacy was reduced significantly in favor of the Middle East. Meanwhile, the ancient Near East had become distinct. The Ottoman rule over the Near East ranged from Vienna (to the north) to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula (to the south), from Egypt (in the west) to the borders of Iraq (in the east). The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire.

## Periodization

[edit]

Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, of the Near East. The result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics.

Copper Age | Chalcolithic
(5000–3300 BC)  | Early Chalcolithic  | 5000–4500 BC  | Ubaid period in Mesopotamia

|
|
|
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Late Chalcolithic  | 4500–3300 BC  | Uruk period of Sumer, Predynastic Period of ancient Egypt, Proto-Elamite period in Iran, Ghassulian, Gerzeh
Bronze Age
| Early Bronze Age
(3300–2100 BC)  | Early Bronze Age I  | 3300–3000 BC  | Jemdet Nasr period in Mesopotamia, Protodynastic to Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, settlement of Phoenicians
Early Bronze Age II  | 3000–2700 BC  | Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia
Early Bronze Age III  | 2700–2200 BC | Old Kingdom of Egypt, Akkadian Empire, early Assyria, Old Elamite period, Sumero-Akkadian states, Marhasi Jiroft
Early Bronze Age IV  | 2200–2100 BC | Second half of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, First Intermediate Period of Egypt
Middle Bronze Age
(2100–1550 BC)  | Middle Bronze Age I  | 2100–2000 BC | Third Dynasty of Ur
Middle Bronze Age II A  | 2000–1750 BC | Minoan civilization, early Babylonia, Egyptian Middle Kingdom
Middle Bronze Age II B  | 1750–1650 BC | Second Intermediate Period of Egypt
Middle Bronze Age II C  | 1650–1550 BC | Hittite Old Kingdom, Minoan eruption
Late Bronze Age
(1550–1200 BC)  | Late Bronze Age I  | 1550–1400 BC | Hittite Middle Kingdom, Hayasa-Azzi, Middle Elamite period, New Kingdom of Egypt
Late Bronze Age II A | 1400–1300 BC | Hittite New Kingdom, Mitanni, Hayasa-Azzi, Ugarit, Mycenaean Greece
Late Bronze Age II B | 1300–1200 BC | Middle Assyrian Empire, beginning of the high point of Phoenicians
Iron Age
| Iron Age I
(1200–1000 BC)  | Iron Age I A | 1200–1150 BC | Troy VII, Hekla 3 eruption, Bronze Age collapse, Sea Peoples
Iron Age I B  | 1150–1000 BC | Neo-Hittite states, Neo Elamite period, Aramean states
Iron Age II
(1000–539 BC)  | Iron Age II A  | 1000–900 BC | Greek Dark Ages, traditional date of the United Monarchy of Israel
Iron Age II B  | 900–700 BC | Kingdom of Israel, Urartu, Phrygia, Neo-Assyrian Empire, Kingdom of Judah, first settlement of Carthage
Iron Age II C  | 700–539 BC | Neo-Babylonian Empire, Median Empire, fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Phoenicia, Archaic Greece, rise of Achaemenid Persia
Classical antiquity
| Achaemenid | 539–330 BC | Persian Achaemenid Empire, Classical Greece
Hellenistic & Parthian | 330–31 BC | Macedonian Empire, Seleucid Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, Kingdom of Pergamon, Ptolemaic Kingdom, Parthian Empire
Roman & Persian | 31 BC – 634 AD | Roman–Persian Wars, Roman Empire, Parthian Empire, Kingdom of Armenia, Sassanid Empire, Byzantine Empire, Muslim conquests

## Background: prehistory

[edit]

Further information: History of the Middle East and Timeline of Middle Eastern history

Part of a series on

Human history
↑ Prehistory (Stone Age)  (Pleistocene epoch)

Holocene

* Timelines
Neolithic – Contemporary
(10,000 BCE – present)

* * *

* Age of the human race
* Recorded history (Common Era)
* Earliest records
* Protohistory
* Proto-writing

Ancient

* Copper Age
* Bronze Age
* Iron Age

* Axial Age
* Classical antiquity
* Late antiquity

* * *

* Africa
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* South America

* Oceania
* East Asia
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Postclassical

* Timeline

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* Africa
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Modern

* Early modern
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* Africa
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See also

* Age of Discovery
* Modernity
* Postmodernity
* Futurology
* Political history

↓ Future

* v
* t
* e

* Paleolithic
* Epipalaeolithic Near East
* Kebaran culture
* Natufian culture
* Neolithic in the Near East
* Pre-pottery Neolithic A
* Pre-pottery Neolithic B
* Pre-pottery Neolithic C
* Pottery Neolithic

### Chalcolithic

[edit]

#### Early Mesopotamia

[edit]

The Uruk period (c. 4000 to 3100 BC) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to the early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, following the Ubaid period.[3] Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization in southern Mesopotamia.[4] The late Uruk period (3400 to 3200 BC) saw the gradual emergence of cuneiform script and corresponds to the early Bronze Age.[5][additional citation(s) needed]

## History

[edit]

For a chronological guide, see Chronology of the ancient Near East.

### Bronze Age

[edit]

Further information: Short chronology timeline

Bronze Age

↑ Chalcolithic

Africa, Near East (c. 3300–1200 BC)

Egypt, Anatolia, Caucasus, Elam, Levant, Mesopotamia, Sistan, Canaan Late Bronze Age collapse

East Asia (c. 3100–300 BC)

Erlitou, Erligang, Gojoseon, Jomon, Majiayao, Mumun, Qijia, Siwa, Wucheng, Xindian, Yueshi, Xia dynasty, Shang dynasty, Sanxingdui, Zhou dynasty

Eurasia and Siberia (c. 2700–700 BC)

Poltavka culture, Abashevo culture, Sintashta culture, Andronovo culture, Mezhovskaya culture, Cherkaskul culture

Europe (c. 3200–900 BC)

Aegean (Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean), Caucasus, Catacomb culture, Srubnaya culture, Bell Beaker culture, Apennine culture, Terramare culture, Únětice culture, Tumulus culture, Urnfield culture, Proto-Villanovan culture, Hallstatt culture, Canegrate culture, Golasecca culture, Argaric culture, Atlantic Bronze Age, Bronze Age Britain, Nordic Bronze Age

Indian subcontinent (c. 3300–1200 BC)

Indus Valley Civilisation, Bronze Age India, Ochre Coloured Pottery, Cemetery H

Topics

Arsenical bronze, writing, literature, Sword, Chariot

↓ Iron Age

* v
* t
* e

#### Early Bronze Age

[edit]

##### Sumer and Akkad

[edit]

Relief of early war wagons on the Standard of Ur, c. 2500 BC

Sumer hosted many early advances in human history, such as schools (c. 3000 BC),[6] making the area a cradle of civilization. The oldest excavated archaeological site in Sumer, Tell el-'Oueili, dates to the 7th millennium BC, although it is likely that the area was occupied even earlier.[7][8] The oldest layers at 'Oueili mark the beginning of the Ubaid period, which was followed by the Uruk period (4th millennium BC) and the Early Dynastic periods (3rd millennium BC). The Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the world's first empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia.

##### Elam

[edit]

Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c. 3200 BC, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC; however, the civilization endured up until 539 BC when it was finally overrun by the Iranian Persians. The Proto-Elamite civilization existed from c. 3200 BC to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period. This civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, Sumer. The Proto-Elamite script is an early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language (which was a language isolate) before the introduction of Elamite cuneiform.

##### The Amorites

[edit]

The Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites ("the Mar.tu land") is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan, although their ultimate origin may have been Arabia.[9] They ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon.

#### Middle Bronze Age

[edit]

* Assyria, after enduring a short period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC. Assyria rivaled Egypt during this period, and dominated much of the near east.
* Babylonia, founded as a state by Amorite tribes, found itself under the rule of Kassites for 435 years. The nation stagnated during the Kassite period, and Babylonia often found itself under Assyrian or Elamite domination.
* Canaan: Ugarit, Kadesh, Megiddo
* The Hittite Empire was founded some time after 2000 BC, and existed as a major power, dominating Asia Minor and the Levant until 1200 BC, when it was first overrun by the Phrygians, and then appropriated by Assyria.

#### Late Bronze Age

[edit]

Sphinx Gate entrance of the Hittite city of Hattusa

The Hurrians lived in northern Mesopotamia and areas to the immediate east and west, beginning approximately 2500 BC. They probably originated in the Caucasus and entered from the north, but this is not certain. Their known homeland was centred on Subartu, the Khabur River valley, and later they established themselves as rulers of small kingdoms throughout northern Mesopotamia and Syria. The largest and most influential Hurrian nation was the kingdom of Mitanni. The Hurrians played a substantial part in the history of the Hittites.

Ishuwa was an ancient kingdom in Anatolia. The name is first attested in the second millennium BC, and is also spelled Išuwa. In the classical period, the land was a part of Armenia. Ishuwa was one of the places where agriculture developed very early on in the Neolithic. Urban centres emerged in the upper Euphrates river valley around 3500 BC. The first states followed in the third millennium BC. The name Ishuwa is not known until the literate period of the second millennium BC. Few literate sources from within Ishuwa have been discovered and the primary source material comes from Hittite texts. To the west of Ishuwa lay the kingdom of the Hittites, and this nation was an untrustworthy neighbour. The Hittite king Hattusili I (c. 1600 BC) is reported to have marched his army across the Euphrates river and destroyed the cities there. This corresponds well with burnt destruction layers discovered by archaeologists at town sites in Ishuwa of roughly the same date. After the end of the Hittite empire in the early 12th century BC a new state emerged in Ishuwa. The city of Malatya became the centre of one of the so-called Neo-Hittite kingdom. The movement of nomadic people may have weakened the kingdom of Malatya before the final Assyrian invasion. The decline of the settlements and culture in Ishuwa from the 7th century BC until the Roman period was probably caused by this movement of people. The Armenians later settled in the area since they were natives of the Armenian plateau and related to the earlier inhabitants of Ishuwa.

Kizzuwatna was a kingdom of the second millennium BC, situated in the highlands of southeastern Anatolia, near the Gulf of İskenderun in modern-day Turkey, encircling the Taurus Mountains and the Ceyhan river. The centre of the kingdom was the city of Kummanni, situated in the highlands. In a later era, the same region was known as Cilicia.

Empires in the ancient Near East around the end of the 2nd millennium BC

Luwian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. Luwian speakers gradually spread through Anatolia and became a contributing factor to the downfall, after c. 1180 BC, of the Hittite Empire, where it was already widely spoken. Luwian was also the language spoken in the Neo-Hittite states of Syria, such as Melid and Carchemish, as well as in the central Anatolian kingdom of Tabal that flourished around 900 BC. Luwian has been preserved in two forms, named after the writing systems used to represent them: Cuneiform Luwian and Hieroglyphic Luwian.

Mari was an ancient Sumerian and Amorite city, located 11 kilometres north-west of the modern town of Abu Kamal on the western bank of Euphrates river, some 120 km southeast of Deir ez-Zor, Syria. It is thought to have been inhabited since the 5th millennium BC, although it flourished from 2900 BC until 1759 BC, when it was sacked by Hammurabi.

Mitanni was a Hurrian kingdom in northern Mesopotamia from c. 1600 BC, at the height of its power, during the 14th century BC, encompassing what is today southeastern Turkey, northern Syria and northern Iraq (roughly corresponding to Kurdistan), centred on the capital Washukanni whose precise location has not yet been determined by archaeologists. The Mitanni language showed Indo-Aryan influences, especially in the names of gods.[10] The spread to Syria of a distinct pottery type associated with the Kura-Araxes culture has been connected with this movement, although its date is somewhat too early.[11] Yamhad was an ancient Amorite kingdom. A substantial Hurrian population also settled in the kingdom, and the Hurrian culture influenced the area. The kingdom was powerful during the Middle Bronze Age, c. 1800–1600 BC. Its biggest rival was Qatna further south. Yamhad was finally destroyed by the Hittites in the 16th century BC.

The Aramaeans were a Semitic (West Semitic language group), semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who had lived in upper Mesopotamia and Syria. Aramaeans have never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. Yet to these Aramaeans befell the privilege of imposing their language and culture upon the entire Near East and beyond, fostered in part by the mass relocations enacted by successive empires, including the Assyrians and Babylonians. Scholars even have used the term 'Aramaization' for the Assyro-Babylonian peoples' languages and cultures, that have become Aramaic-speaking.[12]

The Sea peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty, and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty.[13] The Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah explicitly refers to them by the term "the foreign-countries (or 'peoples')[14] of the sea"[15][16] in his Great Karnak Inscription.[17] Although some scholars believe that they "invaded" Cyprus, Hatti and the Levant, this hypothesis is disputed.[18]

##### Bronze Age collapse

[edit]

Map of the Late Bronze Age Collapse (c. 1200 BC) in the Eastern Mediterranean

The Bronze Age collapse is the name given by those historians who see the transition from the late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age as violent, sudden and culturally disruptive, expressed by the collapse of palace economies of the Aegean and Anatolia, which were replaced after a hiatus by the isolated village cultures of the Dark Age period in history of the ancient Middle East. Some have gone so far as to call the catalyst that ended the Bronze Age a "catastrophe".[19] The Bronze Age collapse may be seen in the context of a technological history that saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of iron-working technology in the region, beginning with precocious iron-working in what is now Romania in the 13th and 12th centuries.[20] The cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and Syria, and the Egyptian Empire in Syria and Palestine, the scission of long-distance trade contacts and sudden eclipse of literacy occurred between 1206 and 1150 BC. In the first phase of this period, almost every city between Troy and Gaza was violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied thereafter (for example, Hattusas, Mycenae, Ugarit). The gradual end of the Dark Age that ensued saw the rise of settled Neo-Hittite and Aramaean kingdoms of the mid-10th century BC, and the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

### Iron Age

[edit]

Part of a series on the

Iron Age
↑ Bronze Age

By region

* Ancient Near East (1200–550 BC)
* Bronze Age collapse (1200–1150 BC)
* Anatolia, Caucasus, Levant
* Europe
* Aegean (1200–700 BC)
* Italy (1100–700 BC)
* Balkans (1100 BC – 150 AD)
* Eastern Europe (900 – 650 BC)
* Central Europe (800 – 50 BC)
* Great Britain (800 BC – 100 AD)
* Northern Europe (500 BC – 800 AD)
* Western Europe (800 BC – 1 AD)
* South Asia (1200–200 BC)
* Southeast Asia (1000–200 BC)
* Vietnam (1000 BC – 200 AD)
* Thailand (c. 2000 – 100 BC)
* Malaysia (500 BC – 200 AD)
* Indonesia (c. 400 BC – 100 AD)
* Philippines (5 BC – 500 AD)
* East Asia (500 BC – 300 AD)
* Africa (2600 BC – 500 AD)

Related topics

* Iron Age metallurgy
* Archaeometallurgical slag

↓ Ancient history

* v
* t
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During the Early Iron Age, from 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire arose, vying with Babylonia and other lesser powers for dominance of the region, though not until the reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III in the 8th century BC,[21][22] did it become a powerful and vast empire. In the Middle Assyrian period of the Late Bronze Age, ancient Assyria had been a kingdom of northern Mesopotamia (modern-day northern Iraq), competing for dominance with its southern Mesopotamian rival Babylonia. From 1365 to 1076, it had been a major imperial power, rivaling Egypt and the Hittite Empire. Beginning with the campaign of Adad-nirari II, it became a vast empire, overthrowing the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and conquering Egypt, the Middle East, and large swaths of Asia Minor, ancient Iran, the Caucasus and east Mediterranean. The Neo-Assyrian Empire succeeded the Middle Assyrian period (14th to 10th century BC). Some scholars, such as Richard Nelson Frye, regard the Neo-Assyrian Empire to be the first real empire in human history.[23] During this period, Aramaic was also made an official language of the empire, alongside the Akkadian language.[23]

The states of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician-speaking political entities of Iron Age northern Syria and southern Anatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC. The term "Neo-Hittite" is sometimes reserved specifically for the Luwian-speaking principalities like Melid (Malatya) and Karkamish (Carchemish), although in a wider sense the broader cultural term "Syro-Hittite" is now applied to all the entities that arose in south-central Anatolia following the Hittite collapse – such as Tabal and Quwê – as well as those of northern and coastal Syria.[24][25]

Urartu was an ancient kingdom of Armenia and North Mesopotamia[26] which existed from c. 860 BC, emerging from the Late Bronze Age until 585 BC. The Kingdom of Urartu was located in the mountainous plateau between Asia Minor, the Iranian plateau, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus Mountains, later known as the Armenian Highland, and it centered on Lake Van (present-day eastern Turkey). The name corresponds to the Biblical Ararat.

Siege engine in Assyrian relief of attack on an enemy town during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, 743–720 BC, from his palace at Nimrud

Two related Israelite kingdoms known as Israel and Judah emerged in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. The northern Kingdom of Israel, with its most prominent capital at Samaria, was the more prosperous of the two kingdoms and soon developed into a regional power; during the days of the Omride dynasty, it controlled Samaria, Galilee, the upper Jordan Valley, the Sharon and large parts of the Transjordan. It was destroyed around 720 BC, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The southern Kingdom of Judah, with its capital at Jerusalem, survived longer. In the 7th century BC, the kingdom's population increased greatly, prospering under Assyrian vassalage. After the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 605 BC, the ensuing competition between the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of the Levant resulted with the rapid decline of the kingdom. In the early-6th century BC, Judah was weakened by a series of Babylonian invasions, and in 587–586 BC, Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the second Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II, who subsequently exiled the Judeans to Babylon.

The term Neo-Babylonian Empire refers to Babylonia under the rule of the 11th ("Chaldean") dynasty, from the revolt of Nabopolassar in 623 BC until the invasion of Cyrus the Great in 539 BC (Although the last ruler of Babylonia (Nabonidus) was in fact from the Assyrian city of Harran and not Chaldean), notably including the reign of Nebuchadrezzar II. Through the centuries of Assyrian domination, Babylonia enjoyed a prominent status, and revolted at the slightest indication that it did not. However, the Assyrians always managed to restore Babylonian loyalty, whether through the granting of increased privileges, or militarily. That finally changed in 627 BC with the death of the last strong Assyrian ruler, Ashurbanipal, and Babylonia rebelled under Nabopolassar the Chaldean a few years later. In alliance with the Medes and Scythians, Nineveh was sacked in 612 and Harran in 608 BC, and the seat of empire was again transferred to Babylonia. Subsequently, the Medes controlled much of the ancient Near East from their base in Ecbatana (modern-day Hamadan, Iran), most notably most of what is now Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and the South Caucasus.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent c. 500 BC

Following the fall of the Medes, the Achaemenid Empire was the first of the Persian Empires to rule over most of the Near East and far beyond, and the second great Iranian empire (after the Median Empire). At the height of its power, encompassing approximately 7,500,000 km2 (2,900,000 sq mi), the Achaemenid Empire was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity, and the first world empire. It spanned three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), including apart from its core in modern-day Iran, the territories of modern Iraq, the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Abkhazia), Asia Minor (Turkey), Thrace (parts of eastern Bulgaria), Macedonia (roughly corresponding to present-day Macedonia in northern Greece), many of the Black Sea coastal regions, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, Central Asia, parts of Pakistan, and all significant population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya.[citation needed] It is noted in western history as the foe of the Greek city states in the Greco-Persian Wars, for freeing the Israelites from their Babylonian captivity, and for instituting Aramaic as the empire's official language.

In 116–117 AD, most of the ancient Near East (excepting several more marginal regions) was briefly re-united under the rule of the Roman Empire under Trajan.

## See also

[edit]

* Asia portal
* Ancient near eastern cosmology
* Ancient Near East studies
* Diplomacy in the ancient Near East
* Economy of Urartu
* Genetic history of the Middle East
* Levantine pottery
* List of cities of the ancient Near East
* List of museums of ancient Near Eastern art
* Religions of the ancient Near East

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ All of modern-day Iraq, as well as southeastern Turkey, southwestern Iran, and northeastern Syria.
2. ^ Elam, Media, Parthia, and Persis.
3. ^ All of modern-day Armenia, in addition to the Turkish Eastern Anatolia Region, northwestern Iran, southern Georgia, and western Azerbaijan.
4. ^ Modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the State of Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus.
5. ^ Includes southern Iraq and southeastern Jordan.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Nemet-Nejat, Karen Rhea (1998). Daily Life In Ancient Mesopotamia. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313294976. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
2. ^ "Armenian Highland". Encyclopædia Britannica. August 28, 2017.
3. ^ Crawford 2004, pp. 18, 40.
4. ^ Crawford 2004, p. 18.
5. ^ Crawford 2004, pp. 194–197.
6. ^ Samuel Noah, Kramer (1959) [1956]. History Begins at Sumer. Anchor Books. pp. xviii–xix, 1. ISBN 978-0-385-09405-4. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
7. ^ Huot, Jean-Louis; Vallet, Régis (1990). "Les Habitations à salles hypostyles d'époque Obeid 0 de Tell El'Oueili". Paléorient. 16 (1): 125–130\. doi:10.3406/paleo.1990.4527.
8. ^ Altaweel, Mark; Marsh, Anke; Jotheri, Jaafar; Hritz, Carrie; Fleitmann, Dominik; Rost, Stephanie; Lintner, Stephen F.; Gibson, McGuire; Bosomworth, Matthew; Jacobson, Matthew; Garzanti, Eduardo (2019). "New Insights on the Role of Environmental Dynamics Shaping Southern Mesopotamia: From the Pre-Ubaid to the Early Islamic Period". IRAQ. 81: 23–46\. doi:10.1017/irq.2019.2. ISSN 0021-0889. S2CID 200071451.
9. ^ "Amorite (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2014.
10. ^ von Dassow, Eva, (2014). "Levantine Polities under Mittanian Hegemony". In: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Nicole Brisch and Jesper Eidem (eds.). Constituent, Confederate, and Conquered Space: The Emergence of the Mittani State. pp. 11–32.
11. ^ James P. Mallory, "Kuro-Araxes Culture", Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
12. ^ Professor Simo Parpola, (University of Helsinki) (2004). "National and Ethnic Identity in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian Identity in Post-Empire Times" (PDF). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies. 18 (2): 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2011.
13. ^ A convenient table of sea peoples in hieroglyphics, transliteration and English is given in the dissertation of Woodhuizen, 2006, who developed it from works of Kitchen cited there.
14. ^ As noted by Gardiner V.1 p. 196, other texts have  |

|

ḫȝty.w "foreign-peoples"; both terms can refer to the concept of "foreigners" as well. Zangger in the external link below expresses a commonly held view that "sea peoples" does not translate this and other expressions but is an academic innovation. The Woudhuizen dissertation and the Morris paper identify Gaston Maspero as the first to use the term "peuples de la mer" in 1881.
15. ^ Gardiner, Alan H. (1947). Ancient Egyptian Onomastica. Vol. 1\. London: Oxford University Press. p. 196.
16. ^ Colleen, Manassa (2003). The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah: Grand Strategy in the Thirteenth Century BC. New Haven: Yale Egyptological Seminar, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University. p. 55\. ISBN 978-0-9740025-0-7.
17. ^ Line 52. The inscription is shown in Manassa p. 55 plate 12.
18. ^ Several articles in Oren.
19. ^ Drews, Robert (1995). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe Ca 1200 B.C. United States: Princeton University Press. p. 264\. ISBN 978-0-691-02591-9.
20. ^ See A. Stoia and the other essays in M.L. Stig Sørensen and R. Thomas, eds., The Bronze Age - Iron Age Transition in Europe (Oxford) 1989, and T.A. Wertime and J.D. Muhly, The Coming of the Age of Iron (New Haven) 1980.
21. ^ "Assyrian Eponym List". Archived from the original on 2016-11-14. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
22. ^ Tadmor, H. (1994). The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III, King of Assyria. p. 29
23. ^ a b Frye, Richard N. (1992). "Assyria and Syria: Synonyms". PhD., Harvard University. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. "And the ancient Assyrian empire, was the first real, empire in history. What do I mean, it had many different peoples included in the empire, all speaking Aramaic, and becoming what may be called, "Assyrian citizens." That was the first time in history, that we have this. For example, Elamite musicians, were brought to Nineveh, and they were 'made Assyrians' which means, that Assyria, was more than a small country, it was the empire, the whole Fertile Crescent."[dead YouTube link]
24. ^ Hawkins, John David; 1982a. "Neo-Hittite States in Syria and Anatolia" in Cambridge Ancient History (2nd ed.) 3.1: 372–441.
25. ^ Hawkins, John David; 1995. "The Political Geography of North Syria and South-East Anatolia in the Neo-Assyrian Period" in Neo-Assyrian Geography, Mario Liverani (ed.), Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Dipartimento di Scienze storiche, archeologiche e anthropologiche dell'Antichità, Quaderni di Geografia Storica 5: Roma: Sargon srl, 87–101.
26. ^ Urartu article, Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2007

### Sources

[edit]

* Crawford, Harriet (2004) [1991]. Sumer and the Sumerians. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-82596-2.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Fletcher, Banister & Dan Cruickshank. Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture. 20th ed. Architectural Press, 1996. ISBN 0-7506-2267-9. Cf. Part One, Chapter 4.
* Hallo, William W. & William Kelly Simpson. The Ancient Near East: A History. 2nd ed. Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1997. ISBN 0-15-503819-2.
* Pittman, Holly (1984). Art of the Bronze Age: Southeastern Iran, Western Central Asia, and the Indus Valley. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780870993657.
* Sasson, Jack. The Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, New York, 1995.
* Scarre, Christopher & Brian M. Fagan. Ancient Civilizations. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, 2007.
* Marc Van de Mieroop, History of the Ancient Near East: Ca. 3000–323 B.C., Blackwell Publishers, 2nd ed., 2006 (first published 2003). ISBN 1-4051-4911-6.

## External links

[edit]

* The History of the Ancient Near East – A database of the prehistoric Near East as well as its ancient history up to approximately the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans ...
* Vicino Oriente – Vicino Oriente is the journal of the Section Near East of the Department of Historical, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences of Antiquity of Rome 'La Sapienza' University. The Journal, which is published yearly, deals with Near Eastern History, Archaeology, Epigraphy, extending its view also on the whole Mediterranean with the study of Phoenician and Punic documents. It is accompanied by 'Quaderni di Vicino Oriente', a monograph series.
* Ancient Near East.net – an information and content portal for the archaeology, ancient history, and culture of the ancient Near East and Egypt
* Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution The Freer Gallery houses a famous collection of ancient Near Eastern artefacts and records, notebooks and photographs of excavations in Samarra (Iraq), Persepolis and Pasargadae (Iran)
* The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives – The archives for The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery houses the papers of Ernst Herzfeld regarding his many excavations, along with records of other archeological excavations in the ancient Near East.
* Archaeowiki.org - a wiki for the research and documentation of the ancient Near East and Egypt
* ETANA – website hosted by a consortium of universities in the interests of providing digitized resources and relevant web links
* Ancient Near East Photographs – this collection, created by Professor Scott Noegel, documents artifacts and archaeological sites of the ancient Near East; from the University of Washington Libraries Digital Image Collection
* Near East Images A directory of archaeological images of the ancient Near East
* Bioarchaeology of the Near East – an Open Access journal

* v
* t
* e

Timeline of the ancient Near East

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Rulers of the ancient Near East

|  | Territories/
dates
[1][2][3][4][5] | Egypt | Canaan | Ebla | Mari | Kish/
Assur | Akshak/
Akkad | Uruk | Adab | Umma
| Lagash | Ur | Elam

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

4000–3200 BCE  | Naqada I
Naqada II
| Egypt–Mesopotamia relations | Pre-Dynastic period (4000–2900 BCE)  | Susa I

Uruk period
(4000–3100 BCE)

(Anu Ziggurat, 4000 BCE)

(Anonymous "King-priests")  | Susa II

(Uruk influence or control)
3200–3100 BCE  | Proto-Dynastic period
(Naqada III)
Early or legendary kings:
Upper Egypt
Finger Snail Fish Pen-Abu Animal Stork Canide Bull Scorpion I Shendjw Iry-Hor Ka Scorpion II Narmer / Menes | Lower Egypt
Hedju Hor Ny-Hor Hsekiu Khayu Tiu Thesh Neheb Wazner Nat-Hor Mekh Double Falcon Wash
3100–2900 BCE  | Early Dynastic Period
First Dynasty of EgyptNarmer Palette
Narmer Menes Neithhotep♀ (regent) Hor-Aha Djer Djet Merneith♀ (regent) Den Anedjib Semerkhet Qa'a Sneferka Horus Bird | Canaanites | Jemdet Nasr period
(3100–2900 BCE)  | Proto-Elamite
period
(Susa III)
(3100–2700 BCE)
2900 BCE  | Second Dynasty of Egypt

Hotepsekhemwy Nebra/Raneb Nynetjer Ba Nubnefer Horus Sa Weneg-Nebty Wadjenes Senedj Seth-Peribsen Sekhemib-Perenmaat Neferkara I Neferkasokar Hudjefa I Khasekhemwy
| Early Dynastic Period I (2900–2700 BCE)
First Eblaite
Kingdom
| First kingdom of Mari
| Kish I dynasty
Jushur, Kullassina-bel
Nangishlishma,
En-tarah-ana
Babum, Puannum, Kalibum
2800 BCE

| Kalumum Zuqaqip Atab
Mashda Arwium Etana
Balih En-me-nuna
Melem-Kish Barsal-nuna | Uruk I dynasty
Meshkiangasher
Enmerkar ("conqueror of Aratta")
2700 BCE  | Early Dynastic Period II (2700–2600 BCE)
|  | Zamug, Tizqar, Ilku
Iltasadum | Lugalbanda
Dumuzid, the Fisherman
Enmebaragesi ("made the land of Elam submit")[6]
Aga of Kish | Gilgamesh | Old Elamite period
(2700–1500 BCE)

Indo-Mesopotamia relations
2600 BCE  | Third Dynasty of Egypt

Djoser

(First Egyptian pyramids)
Sekhemkhet Sanakht Nebka Khaba Qahedjet Huni | Early Dynastic Period III (2600–2340 BCE)
Sagisu
Abur-lim
Agur-lim
Ibbi-Damu
Baba-Damu |  | Kish II dynasty
(5 kings)
Uhub
Mesilim | Ur-Nungal
Udulkalama
Labashum | Lagash
En-hegal
Lugal-
shaengur | Ur
A-Imdugud
Ur-Pabilsag
Meskalamdug
(Queen Puabi)
Akalamdug
Enun-dara-anna
Mesh-he
Melem-ana
Lugal-kitun | Adab
Nin-kisalsi
Me-durba
Lugal-dalu |
2575 BCE  | Old Kingdom of Egypt
Fourth Dynasty of Egypt
Snefru Khufu

Djedefre Khafre Bikheris Menkaure Shepseskaf Thamphthis | Ur I dynasty
Mesannepada
"King of Ur and Kish", victorious over Uruk
2500 BCE  | Phoenicia (2500–539 BCE)  | Second kingdom of Mari

Ikun-Shamash
Iku-Shamagan

Ansud
Sa'umu
Ishtup-Ishar
Ikun-Mari
Iblul-Il
Nizi
Enna-Dagan | Kish III dynasty
Ku-Baba♀ | Akshak dynasty
Unzi
Undalulu | Uruk II dynasty
Ensha-
kushanna | Mug-si | Umma I dynasty

Pabilgagaltuku | Lagash I dynasty

Ur-Nanshe

Akurgal | A'annepada
Meskiagnun
Elulu
Balulu | Awan dynasty
Peli
Tata
Ukkutahesh
Hishur
2450 BCE  | Fifth Dynasty of Egypt

Userkaf Sahure Neferirkare Kakai Neferefre Shepseskare Nyuserre Ini Menkauhor Kaiu Djedkare Isesi Unas | Enar-Damu
Ishar-Malik | Ush
Enakalle
Elamite invasions
(3 kings)[6] | Shushun-Tarana
Napi-Ilhush
2425 BCE  | Kun-Damu | Eannatum
(King of Lagash, Sumer, Akkad, conqueror of Elam)
2400 BCE  | Adub-Damu
Igrish-Halam
Irkab-Damu | Kish IV dynasty
Puzur-Suen
Ur-Zababa | Urur | Lugal-kinishe-dudu
Lugal-kisalsi | E-iginimpa'e
Meskigal | Ur-Lumma

Gishakidu
(Queen Bara-irnun)  | Enannatum
Entemena
Enannatum II
Enentarzi | Ur II dynasty
Nanni
Mesh-ki-ang-Nanna II | Kikku-Siwe-Temti
2380 BCE  | Sixth Dynasty of Egypt
Teti Userkare Pepi I Merenre Nemtyemsaf I Pepi II Merenre Nemtyemsaf II Netjerkare Siptah
| Adab dynasty
Lugal-Anne-Mundu
"King of the four quarters of the world"
2370 BCE  | Isar-Damu | Enna-Dagan
Ikun-Ishar
Ishqi-Mari | Invasion by Mari
Anbu, Anba, Bazi, Zizi of Mari, Limer, Sharrum-iter[6] | Ukush | Lugalanda
Urukagina | Luh-ishan
2350 BCE  |  | Puzur-Nirah
Ishu-Il
Shu-Sin | Uruk III dynasty
Lugal-zage-si
(Governor of Umma, King of all Sumer)
2340 BCE  |  | Akkadian Period (2340–2150 BCE)
Akkadian Empire

Sargon of Akkad Rimush Manishtushu | Akkadian Governors:
Eshpum
Ilshu-rabi
Epirmupi
Ili-ishmani
2250 BCE  | Naram-Sin | Lugal-ushumgal
(vassal of the Akkadians)
2200 BCE  | First Intermediate Period
Seventh Dynasty of Egypt
Eighth Dynasty of Egypt
Menkare Neferkare II Neferkare Neby Djedkare Shemai Neferkare Khendu Merenhor Neferkamin Nikare Neferkare Tereru Neferkahor Neferkare Pepiseneb Neferkamin Anu Qakare Ibi Neferkaure Neferkauhor Neferirkare | Second Eblaite
Kingdom | Third kingdom of Mari
(Shakkanakku
dynasty)

Ididish
Shu-Dagan
Ishma-Dagan
(vassals of the Akkadians)  |
Shar-Kali-Sharri
Igigi, Imi, Nanum, Ilulu (3 years)
Dudu
Shu-turul | Uruk IV dynasty
Ur-nigin
Ur-gigir |  | Lagash II dynasty
Puzer-Mama
Ur-Ningirsu I
Pirig-me
Lu-Baba
Lu-gula
Ka-ku
| Hishep-ratep
Helu
Khita
Puzur-Inshushinak
2150 BCE  | Ninth Dynasty of Egypt
Meryibre Khety Neferkare VII Nebkaure Khety Setut | Ur III period (2150–2000 BCE)
Nûr-Mêr
Ishtup-Ilum

Ishgum-Addu
Apil-kin | Gutian dynasty
(21 kings)

La-erabum
Si'um | Kuda (Uruk)
Puzur-ili
Ur-Utu |  | Umma II dynasty
Lugalannatum
(vassal of the Gutians)  | Ur-Baba
Gudea
Ur-Ningirsu
Ur-gar
Nam-mahani

Tirigan
2125 BCE  | Tenth Dynasty of Egypt
Meryhathor Neferkare VIII Wahkare Khety Merikare

| Uruk V dynasty
Utu-hengal
2100 BCE  | (Vassals of UR III)  | Iddi-ilum
Ili-Ishar
Tura-Dagan
Puzur-Ishtar
(vassals of Ur III)[7] | Ur III dynasty
"Kings of Ur, Sumer and Akkad"
Ur-Nammu Shulgi Amar-Sin Shu-Sin
2025–1763 BCE  | Amorite invasions | Ibbi-Sin | Elamite invasions
Kindattu (Shimashki Dynasty)
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt
Mentuhotep I Intef I Intef II Intef III Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep III Mentuhotep IV
Third Eblaite
Kingdom
(Amorites)
Ibbit-Lim

Immeya Indilimma | (Amorite Shakkanakkus)
Hitial-Erra
Hanun-Dagan
(...)

Lim Dynasty
of Mari
(Amorites)
Yaggid-Lim Yahdun-Lim Yasmah-Adad Zimri-Lim (Queen Shibtu)  | Old Assyria
Puzur-Ashur I
Shalim-ahum
Ilu-shuma
Erishum I
Ikunum
Sargon I
Puzur-Ashur II
Naram-Sin
Erishum II | Isin-Larsa period
(Amorites)
Dynasty of Isin: Ishbi-Erra Shu-Ilishu Iddin-Dagan Ishme-Dagan Lipit-Ishtar Ur-Ninurta Bur-Suen Lipit-Enlil Erra-imitti Enlil-bani Zambiya Iter-pisha Ur-du-kuga Suen-magir Damiq-ilishu
Dynasty of Larsa: Naplanum Emisum Samium Zabaia Gungunum Abisare Sumuel Nur-Adad Sin-Iddinam Sin-Eribam Sin-Iqisham Silli-Adad Warad-Sin Rim-Sin I (...) Rim-Sin II
Uruk VI dynasty: Alila-hadum Sumu-binasa Naram-Sin of Uruk Sîn-kāšid Sîn-iribam Sîn-gāmil Ilum-gamil An-am Irdanene Rîm-Anum Nabi-ilišu  | Sukkalmah dynasty

Siwe-Palar-Khuppak
Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt
Amenemhat I Senusret I Amenemhat II Senusret II Senusret III Amenemhat III Amenemhat IV Sobekneferu♀
1800–1595 BCE  | Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt | Abraham
(Biblical)
Kings of Byblos
Kings of Tyre
Kings of Sidon | Yamhad
(Yamhad dynasty)
(Amorites)  | Old Assyria

(Shamshi-Adad dynasty
1808–1736 BCE)
(Amorites)
Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi

(Non-dynastic usurpers
1735–1701 BCE)
Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi

(Adaside dynasty
1700–722 BCE)
Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II

| First Babylonian dynasty
("Old Babylonian Period")
(Amorites)
Sumu-abum Sumu-la-El Sabium Apil-Sin Sin-Muballit Hammurabi Samsu-iluna Abi-Eshuh Ammi-Ditana Ammi-Saduqa Samsu-Ditana

Early Kassite rulers |

Second Babylonian dynasty
("Sealand Dynasty")
Ilum-ma-ili Itti-ili-nibi Damqi-ilishu
Ishkibal Shushushi Gulkishar
mDIŠ+U-EN Peshgaldaramesh Ayadaragalama
Akurduana Melamkurkurra Ea-gamil

Second Intermediate Period
Sixteenth
Dynasty of Egypt
Abydos
Dynasty
Seventeenth
Dynasty of Egypt

| Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt
("Hyksos")
Pharaoh Ahmose I slaying a Hyksos
Semqen 'Aper-'Anati Sakir-Har Khyan Apepi Khamudi | Mitanni
(1600–1260 BCE)
Kirta Shuttarna I Baratarna
1531–1155 BCE  | TutankhamunNew Kingdom of Egypt
Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Ahmose I Amenhotep I | Third Babylonian dynasty (Kassites)
Agum-Kakrime Burnaburiash I Kashtiliash III Ulamburiash Agum III Karaindash Kadashman-Harbe I Kurigalzu I Kadashman-Enlil I Burna-Buriash II Kara-hardash Nazi-Bugash Kurigalzu II Nazi-Maruttash Kadashman-Turgu Kadashman-Enlil II Kudur-Enlil Shagarakti-Shuriash Kashtiliash IV Enlil-nadin-shumi Kadashman-Harbe II Adad-shuma-iddina Adad-shuma-usur Meli-Shipak II Marduk-apla-iddina I Zababa-shuma-iddin Enlil-nadin-ahi | Middle Elamite period

(1500–1100 BCE)
Kidinuid dynasty
Igehalkid dynasty
Untash-Napirisha

Thutmose I Thutmose II Hatshepsut♀ Thutmose III
Amenhotep II Thutmose IV Amenhotep III Akhenaten Smenkhkare Neferneferuaten♀ Tutankhamun Ay Horemheb | Hittite Empire (1450–1180 BCE)
Suppiluliuma I Mursili II Muwatalli II Mursili III Hattusili III Tudhaliya IV Suppiluliuma II

Ugarit (vassal of Hittites)
Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Ramesses I Seti I Ramesses II Merneptah Amenmesses Seti II Siptah Tausret♀ | Elamite Empire
Shutrukid dynasty
Shutruk-Nakhunte
1155–1025 BCE  | Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt

Setnakhte Ramesses III Ramesses IV Ramesses V Ramesses VI Ramesses VII Ramesses VIII Ramesses IX Ramesses X Ramesses XI

Third Intermediate Period

Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt
Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon the Elder Siamun Psusennes II

| Phoenicia
Kings of Byblos
Kings of Tyre
Kings of Sidon

Kingdom of Israel
Saul
Ish-bosheth
David
Solomon | Syro-Hittite states
Carchemish
Tabal | Middle Assyria
Eriba-Adad I Ashur-uballit I Enlil-nirari Arik-den-ili Adad-nirari I Shalmaneser I Tukulti-Ninurta I Ashur-nadin-apli Ashur-nirari III Enlil-kudurri-usur Ninurta-apal-Ekur Ashur-dan I Ninurta-tukulti-Ashur Mutakkil-Nusku Ashur-resh-ishi I Tiglath-Pileser I Asharid-apal-Ekur Ashur-bel-kala Eriba-Adad II Shamshi-Adad IV Ashurnasirpal I Shalmaneser II Ashur-nirari IV Ashur-rabi II Ashur-resh-ishi II Tiglath-Pileser II Ashur-dan II | Fourth Babylonian dynasty ("Second Dynasty of Isin")
Marduk-kabit-ahheshu Itti-Marduk-balatu Ninurta-nadin-shumi Nebuchadnezzar I Enlil-nadin-apli Marduk-nadin-ahhe Marduk-shapik-zeri Adad-apla-iddina Marduk-ahhe-eriba Marduk-zer-X Nabu-shum-libur | Neo-Elamite period (1100–540 BCE)
1025–934 BCE  | Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Babylonian dynasties ("Period of Chaos")
Simbar-shipak Ea-mukin-zeri Kashshu-nadin-ahi Eulmash-shakin-shumi Ninurta-kudurri-usur I Shirikti-shuqamuna Mar-biti-apla-usur Nabû-mukin-apli
911–745 BCE  | Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt
Shoshenq I Osorkon I Shoshenq II Takelot I Osorkon II Shoshenq III Shoshenq IV Pami Shoshenq V Pedubast II Osorkon IV

Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt
Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini

Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt
Tefnakht Bakenranef

| Kingdom of Samaria

Kingdom of Judah | Neo-Assyrian Empire
Adad-nirari II Tukulti-Ninurta II Ashurnasirpal II Shalmaneser III Shamshi-Adad V Shammuramat♀ (regent) Adad-nirari III Shalmaneser IV Ashur-Dan III Ashur-nirari V | Eight Babylonian Dynasty
Ninurta-kudurri-usur II Mar-biti-ahhe-iddina Shamash-mudammiq Nabu-shuma-ukin I Nabu-apla-iddina Marduk-zakir-shumi I Marduk-balassu-iqbi Baba-aha-iddina (five kings) Ninurta-apla-X Marduk-bel-zeri Marduk-apla-usur Eriba-Marduk Nabu-shuma-ishkun Nabonassar Nabu-nadin-zeri Nabu-shuma-ukin II Nabu-mukin-zeri
| Humban-Tahrid dynasty

Urtak
Teumman
Ummanigash
Tammaritu I
Indabibi
Humban-haltash III
745–609 BCE  | Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt
Taharqa("Black Pharaohs")
Piye Shebitku Shabaka Taharqa Tanutamun | Neo-Assyrian Empire

(Sargonid dynasty)
Tiglath-Pileser† Shalmaneser† Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon† Sennacherib† Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi† Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon† Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II

Assyrian conquest of Egypt | Assyrian conquest of Elam
626–539 BCE  | Late Period
Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt
Necho I Psamtik I Necho II Psamtik II Wahibre Ahmose II Psamtik III | Neo-Babylonian Empire
Nabopolassar Nebuchadnezzar II Amel-Marduk Neriglissar Labashi-Marduk Nabonidus | Median Empire
Deioces Phraortes Madyes Cyaxares Astyages
539–331 BCE  | Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt
(First Achaemenid conquest of Egypt)  | Kings of Byblos
Kings of Tyre
Kings of Sidon | Achaemenid Empire
Cyrus Cambyses Darius I Xerxes Artaxerxes I Darius II Artaxerxes II Artaxerxes III Artaxerxes IV Darius III
Twenty-eighth Dynasty of Egypt
Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt
Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt
Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt
331–141 BCE  | Argead dynasty and Ptolemaic Egypt
Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy Ceraunus Ptolemy II Philadelphus Arsinoe II♀ Ptolemy III Euergetes Berenice II Euergetis♀ Ptolemy IV Philopator Arsinoe III Philopator♀ Ptolemy V Epiphanes Cleopatra I Syra♀ Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator Cleopatra II Philometor Soteira♀ Ptolemy VIII Physcon Cleopatra III♀ Ptolemy IX Lathyros Cleopatra IV♀ Ptolemy X Alexander Berenice III♀ Ptolemy XI Alexander Ptolemy XII Auletes Cleopatra V♀ Cleopatra VI Tryphaena♀ Berenice IV Epiphanea♀ Ptolemy XIII Ptolemy XIV Cleopatra VII Philopator♀ Ptolemy XV Caesarion Arsinoe IV♀ | Hellenistic Period
Seleukos I Nikator Tetradrachm from BabylonArgead dynasty: Alexander III Philip III Alexander IV
Antigonid dynasty: Antigonus I
Seleucid Empire: Seleucus I Antiochus I Antiochus II Seleucus II Seleucus III Antiochus III Seleucus IV Antiochus IV Antiochus V Demetrius I Alexander III Demetrius II Antiochus VI Dionysus Diodotus Tryphon Antiochus VII Sidetes
141–30 BCE  | Kingdom of Judea
Simon Thassi John Hyrcanus Aristobulus I Alexander Jannaeus Salome Alexandra♀ Hyrcanus II Aristobulus II Antigonus II Mattathias | Alexander II Zabinas Seleucus V Philometor Antiochus VIII Grypus Antiochus IX Cyzicenus Seleucus VI Epiphanes Antiochus X Eusebes Antiochus XI Epiphanes Demetrius III Eucaerus Philip I Philadelphus Antiochus XII Dionysus Antiochus XIII Asiaticus Philip II Philoromaeus | Parthian Empire
Mithridates I Phraates Hyspaosines Artabanus Mithridates II Gotarzes Mithridates III Orodes I Sinatruces Phraates III Mithridates IV Orodes II Phraates IV Tiridates II Musa Phraates V Orodes III Vonones I Artabanus II Tiridates III Artabanus II Vardanes I Gotarzes II Meherdates Vonones II Vologases I Vardanes II Pacorus II Vologases II Artabanus III Osroes I
30 BCE–116 CE  | Roman Empire
(Roman conquest of Egypt)
Province of Egypt | Judaea | Syria
116–117 CE  | Province of Mesopotamia under Trajan | Parthamaspates of Parthia
117–224 CE  | Syria Palaestina | Province of Mesopotamia | Sinatruces II Mithridates V Vologases IV Osroes II Vologases V Vologases VI Artabanus IV
224–270 CE  | Sasanian Empire
Province of Asoristan
Coin of Ardashir I, Hamadan mint.Ardashir I Shapur I Hormizd I Bahram I Bahram II Bahram III Narseh Hormizd II Adur Narseh Shapur II Ardashir II Shapur III Bahram IV Yazdegerd I Shapur IV Khosrow Bahram V Yazdegerd II Hormizd III Peroz I Balash Kavad I Jamasp Kavad I Khosrow I Hormizd IV Khosrow II Bahram VI Chobin Vistahm
270–273 CE  | Palmyrene Empire
Vaballathus Zenobia♀ Antiochus
273–395 CE  | Roman Empire
Province of Egypt | Syria Palaestina | Syria | Province of Mesopotamia
395–618 CE  | Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Egypt | Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda | Byzantine Syria | Byzantine Mesopotamia
618–628 CE  | (Sasanian conquest of Egypt)
Province of Egypt
Shahrbaraz Shahralanyozan Shahrbaraz | Sasanian Empire
Province of Asoristan
Khosrow II Kavad II
628–641 CE  | Byzantine Empire | Ardashir III Shahrbaraz Khosrow III Boran♀ Shapur-i Shahrvaraz Azarmidokht♀ Farrukh Hormizd Hormizd VI Khosrow IV Boran Yazdegerd III Peroz III Narsieh
Byzantine Egypt | Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda | Byzantine Syria | Byzantine Mesopotamia
639–651 CE  | Muslim conquest of Egypt | Muslim conquest of the Levant | Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia and Persia
Chronology of the Neolithic period |  Rulers of ancient Central Asia

1. ^ Rulers with names in italics are considered fictional.
2. ^ Hallo, William W.; Simpson, William Kelly (1971). The Ancient Near East: A History. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 48–49\. ISBN 978-0-15-502755-8.
3. ^ "Rulers of Mesopotamia". CDLI:wiki. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative.
4. ^ Thomas, Ariane; Potts, Timothy, eds. (2020). Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum. p. 14\. ISBN 978-1-60606-649-2.
5. ^ Roux, Georges (1992). Ancient Iraq. London: Penguin Books Limited. pp. 532–534 (Chronological Tables). ISBN 978-0-14-193825-7.
6. ^ a b c Per the Sumerian King List.
7. ^ Unger, Merrill F. (2014). Israel and the Aramaeans of Damascus: A Study in Archaeological Illumination of Bible History. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. p. 5\. ISBN 978-1-62564-606-4.

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